Happy Endings in Hollywood Cinema

Cliché, Convention and the Final Couple

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by James MacDowell

Type: Studies
Subject: Countries > United States
Keywords: american cinema, ending
Publishing date: 2013
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 224 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-0-7486-8017-7

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Book Presentation:
A critical study of the ‘happy ending’ in classical and contemporary Hollywood cinema

The Hollywood ‘happy ending’ has long been considered among the most famous and standardised features in the whole of narrative filmmaking. Yet, while ceaselessly invoked, this notorious device has received barely any detailed attention from the field of film studies.

This book is the first in-depth examination of one of the most overused and under-analysed concepts in discussions of popular cinema. What exactly is the 'happy ending'? Is it simply a cliché, as commonly supposed? Why has it earned such an unenviable reputation? What does it, or can it, mean? Concentrating especially on conclusions featuring an ultimate romantic union – the final couple – this wide-ranging investigation probes traditional associations between the 'happy ending' and homogeneity, closure, ‘unrealism’, and ideological conservatism, testing widespread assumptions against the evidence offered by a range of classical and contemporary films.
Key Features
• Defines key features of the Hollywood ‘happy ending’ through detailed textual analysis and theoretical debate
• Traces the historical development of the scholarly approaches taken towards the cinematic ‘happy ending’
• Reassesses the concept of cinematic closure and its relationship to genre, ideology and ‘unrealism’

About the Author:
James MacDowell is an Associate Fellow in the Department of Film & Television Studies at the University of Warwick, and an editorial board member of Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism. His research focuses on issues of narrative, aesthetics and culture in Hollywood and American independent cinema, and he is currently writing a book on irony in film.

Press Reviews:
MacDowell quietly but brilliantly questions widespread misconceptions about Hollywood endings, and convincingly argues for their variety and complexity as well as their emotional and intellectual appeal. The book’s combination of exceptionally smart in-depth textual analysis and theoretical speculation makes it compulsory reading for scholars and students for whom the films themselves are still the main focus of our discipline. A wonderful book.– Celestio Deleyto, University of Zaragoza

See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press

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